The present invention relates generally to autoclave cassettes which are used to retain and store surgical and dental instruments and appliances. More particularly the present invention relates to a dental cassette kit which permits the dentist to customize the kit construction by the selection of available kit components. While the focus of the present invention is on a dental cassette kit, the customizing features and selectable components are also applicable to surgical cassettes.
The design of dental and surgical cassettes which are intended for autoclaving have a number of common or typical features. For example, the materials which are used are selected to withstand the higher temperatures of autoclaving and steam holes are provided in the tray and lid portions for the flow of autoclaving steam in and around the instruments and appliances which are loaded into the cassette. These cassettes typically have some arrangement of hinges and/or latches in order to join the tray and lid together. The typical construction also includes some style of holder or retaining means for the instruments and appliances which are to be autoclaved.
The following patent references are believed to provide a representative sampling of the typical autoclave cassettes which have been generally described:
______________________________________ Patent No. Patentee Date Issued ______________________________________ 5,004,418 Porteous April 2, 1991 3,634,937 Green January 18, 1972 4,854,475 Riihimaki et al. August 8, 1989 3,890,096 Nichol et al. June 17,1975 857,240 Henning June 18, 1907 3,285,409 Loran November 15, 1966 3,589,511 Britt June 29, 1971 5,098,676 Brooks, Jr. Mar. 24, 1992 ______________________________________
Additionally, related autoclave cassette and enclosure designs are disclosed in my prior and co-pending patent applications, Ser. No. 07/954,563 filed Sep. 30, 1992 and Ser. No. 07/935,157 filed Aug. 25, 1992.
While these various cassette designs provide a variety of features and while they each attempt to address different concerns, they each have a fixed configuration. Once the designer or manufacturer decides on what the product configuration should be, that is what it is. The only choice the dentist or surgeon has as to the cassette style is limited to what someone else has already decided the dentist or surgeon would like. If the available cassettes do not offer quite what the dentist or surgeon would like to have as features and styling, the dentist or surgeon must sacrifice and compromise.
What is missing in these earlier cassette designs is the ability of the dentist/surgeon to customize his or her own cassette so as to provide greater versatility and the exact style desired. The present invention provides this customizing option by means of an autoclave cassette kit wherein the tray is machined with assembly features to receive a variety of retaining racks, finger mats and boxes.
As used herein the phrase "finger mats" encompasses a single unit as well as an assembly as typified by the preferred embodiment.
Each option item is easily assembled and disassembled from the tray so that an assortment of options can be separately purchased and used to customize the tray back and forth into a number of different configurations. With the standardized tray and lid, one cassette can be customized for a variety of procedures and instead of buying and stocking a number of fixed-style cassettes, a fewer number are required as they can be converted to different styles, interchangeably.